Aneesh Chopra: Handshakes, Handoffs, and Government Innovation

olaf

Oct 01, 2014

During his three-year tenure as the first chief technology officer of the United States under President Barack Obama, Aneesh Chopra was charged with fostering innovation to help the country meet the goals of job creation, reducing healthcare costs, and security.

Chopra shared some of what he learned with a rapt audience at last month’s I Love APIs 2014 conference.

As Chopra put it, innovation is a great way to foster “handshakes”—it’s something that everyone tends to agree on, even in the often divisive atmosphere of Washington, D.C.

The “handoff” part is perhaps even more critical. APIs enable innovation well beyond the confines of an enterprise, organization, or agency. It’s about “providing more innovation for the money,” Chopra says, noting that while Facebook employs about 2,000 people, 35,000 people call themselves “Facebook developers.”

Government, in other words, should value the power of external expertise, and, to foster this, publish more APIs. We couldn't agree more.